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Great. More pressure. “Why were they hired?”
“Because they had experience with other social media marketing. My partners and I refuse to believe that any medium is impossible or even inefficient if you find the right strategies, but no one has cracked the ChitChat code. I want to believe that you will, but truthfully, I’m struggling to believe it. You spent half your week watching videos instead of brainstorming and working through the details.”
Damn it. I just don’t have it in me to deal with the double-speak right now. Either I’m the expert or I’m the idiot, and I don’t care which he thinks I am. I just wish that Emery would make up his mind.
“Emery, either trust me with the campaign or don’t. I don’t know what else to say. Do you want me to walk you through everything I do? Should I hold a ‘How to Win at ChitChat’ seminar? I told you I didn’t think I could do this, and you’ve pushed me to do it, regardless. Either give the campaign to someone else or let me do the freaking thing without you picking everything I do apart.”
He's silent during my little rant. When I finish, he’s just staring at me, and now that I’ve said what’s on my mind, I feel more than a little awkward.
I take a breath, and he nods. “Do the thing, Madison. I’m simply trying to keep you abreast of my concerns. I think you’re the best person for the job, but nothing you’re doing makes sense to me.”
Emery stands up and picks up his laptop bag, the same one that everyone received with their laptops. He slings it over his shoulder and says, “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”
As I stand up, taking his cue that the meeting is over, he walks around the desk. His phone rings, stopping him right next to me. His jaw clenches as he slips the bag off his shoulder and drops it to the ground next to my chair as he digs in his pocket for his phone.
“Hey Dante,” he says.
He pauses for a moment before looking at me. “Yeah, give me a second,” he says into the phone and covers it with his hand. “What are you doing tonight?”
What am I doing tonight? Reading and drinking wine. Probably complaining about my boss to Tessa. Didn’t he just get done trying to chew my butt over work stuff?
“Working on this project,” is what I tell Emery, even though I desperately need a moment away from it.
He frowns for a moment and says, “Want to take a break and go to a pool party tonight as my plus one? It’s on the top of the Longview Hotel. You might get to meet a celebrity or two.”
Unless those celebrities happen to be Maya Hall, my favorite author, then I doubt I’d even recognize them. “I’ll have to take a rain check on the celebrity meet-and-greet, boss. Work has to take priority my first week on the job.”
He nods and sighs before talking into the phone again. “I’ll call up Irene Matthews on the way home. She looks good in a bikini.”
Emery hangs up the phone, and, as he bends down to pick up his laptop bag, I can’t keep from speaking my mind. “She looks good in a bikini?” The attitude in the statement is impossible to miss, and I don’t really mind.
His frown evaporates as he grins at me. “Haven’t you ever searched my name on the internet?” His eyes never leave mine as he throws the laptop bag strap over his shoulder. “I don’t go anywhere without a beautiful woman at my side. It’s a necessary evil when you’re me.”
And he invited me? I’ve seen the kind of women he goes to events with. They’re the ones men drool over and other women want to be. I’m not even in the same world.
“Well, enjoy your bikini-clad friend. I’m sure she’ll be a much better date than I’d have been.”
He gives me a sideways smile as he turns to leave the office. “Doubtful. But you turned me down.”
Then he’s gone, leaving me stunned in his office. It takes me a few moments to shake it off, but the questions are left without answers. Why would Emery Brooks, my boss, say that I’d make a better date? The only answer that makes any sense is that he’s lying or crazy. But what would be the point?
I don’t know. He may be a liar, but there’s no doubt that there’s a purpose to everything he does. What was the purpose of that comment?
Chapter 7
Madison
Why isn’t Tessa home yet? I need someone to tell me I’m not crazy. Or maybe that I am. Emery Brooks has done so many things that confused me today. First, he says he trusts me. Then he doesn’t. And then he drops the doozy, telling me I’d make a better date than a model.
He’s got my emotions all wrapped up in knots, and even though I’m trying to take a breather from the insanity of work, I can’t stop thinking about him.
I change the angle of the stand for my phone so that it gets the tablet in the shot better.Pucked by the Boss, my most recent romance read is on the ChitChat review block this evening. My job at Aspire may be amazing, but like Emery said, if I screw it up, I’ll be gone just as quickly as I got hired. My BookChat channel is my backup plan. Just in case.
I hit record and scroll through the pages. The quotes and music will get added after I’m done with the page flips. Work may have burned through every bit of creative juices inside me over the past three days, but this is automatic. I could talk about books all day, every day, and it’d never get tiring. Instead of spending creative juices, it’s almost like it gives me a refill.
Surprisingly, Tessa isn’t home yet. I’d expected to come back to our apartment to see her already working on dinner since it’s her night to cook. Instead, she’s missing and not answering my texts. It’s worrisome, but just like me, she recently started a new job with a very intense management consulting firm. I think she mentioned her official title is Data Slave until she gets her first promotion in six months, so I’m not too worried. Yet.
I stop the video and start editing in the quotes I found last night. Fifteen minutes of editing and picking a fitting and popular sound, and that one’s done. I’ll do another after I order some Asian takeout. I need fuel if I’m going to be spending this evening all alone.
